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But you can dance in your heart, if movies like Strictly Ballroom, Mad Hot Ballroom and the seminal, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, tell us anything! Unfortunately, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit to allow dancing in establishments without special cabaret licenses. The group of dancers which had brought the lawsuit claimed that bars and restaurants that did allow dancing were harder to get into (not mention violated the first amendment that allows people to shake their thang/express themselves). However, Judge Michael Stallman ruled, "The issue is whether the presence of additional people who wish to dance may cause increased noise and congestion in certain places. If these establishments draw more people because they offer dancing, then there is a greater likelihood of pedestrian traffic, increased vehicular traffic and associated noise." Yes, you read it here: Dancing equals traffic and noise (bad!) even if it's a good cardiovascular workout (aren't there studies that say how New Yorkers are fat or something?).
The dancers may appeal the ruling, and Gothamist calls for a dance-a-thon outside City Hall.
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Where else but a "free" country from which one must acquire permission to dance?
If this is what democracy is, please count me out.
total poop.
Does anyone know the origins of that law? I'm curious to know if it actually has some logical basis.
It's from the Prohibition Era.
New York needs a young, Kevin Bacon type of character to change this law.
it's actually a law from the 1920's that was instituted mainly to prevent large groups of black people from dancing in harlem jazz clubs. that's why it was instituted. so, not only is it unfair and irrelevant today, but it also has a completely racist foundation. that cabaret law has got to go
I think this law is not only arcane, but it also stinks. I know a lot of people who don't like to go to the big dance clubs but can't find a nice bar in which to dance. It's ridiculous. Let's start a letter and e-mail writing campaign to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Counsel to end the cabaret law.
This law reared its ugly head back in 2002 or so and clubs like Swing 46 barely slipped through a ban on dancing. (What's a swing dancing club without the swing dancing?) It seems redundant especially with all the Fire Codes and permits already required of bar and restaurant owners.
Swing 46 actually lost their license for a while as well. Eventually they got it back. The original law also prevented bands of a certain size from performing but has since been repealed on account the music is an art form/personal expression. (And the original law even prevented people like Billie Holiday from performing in the city.)
The dancers who brought the suite were mostly partner dancers (salsa, swing, etc). The people who who go out regularly for that are pretty respectful of noise, they don't tend to drink a lot, and most dances are scheduled during the week on light crowd nights to not interfere with the nights were bars make most of their income.
The excuses for not getting rid of the law are of the straw man variety.
This angers me to no end. For God's sake, we can't have people conducting UNAUTHORIZED DANCING.
I'd rather we had licenses for Karaoke to limit its effects on my eardrums.